Regional

6:00 am

Mon June 16, 2014

Mixed Reaction To Gila Travel Management Plan

The U-S Forest Service plan governing future travel inside Gila National Forest is drawing a mixed reaction from some conservationists.

Donna Stevens with the Upper Gila Watershed Alliance says an important element of the travel management plan is that it restricts motorized vehicle use to roadways inside the forest. But Stevens says leaving more than three-thousand miles of open road, about the distance between New York City and Los Angeles, does not do enough to protect the forest. She says roads can have a negative impact on wildlife.

Stevens says the plan calls for the closure of several hundred miles of existing roads inside the 3-point-3 million-acre Gila National Forest. The U-S Forest Service has been working on the travel management plan for the better part of a decade. The plan is expected to be implemented next year.